The construction industry added 11,000 jobs on net in September, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has increased by 217,000 jobs, an uptick of 2.8%.
Nonresidential construction employment decreased by 1,300 positions on net, with contraction in 2 of the 3 subcategories. Nonresidential specialty trade lost 3,300 positions, while nonresidential building lost 200 jobs. Heavy and civil engineering added 2,200 jobs.
The construction unemployment rate decreased slightly to 3.8%, while unemployment across all industries remained unchanged at 3.8% last month.
“Despite declining last month, America’s nonresidential construction segment has still added jobs at a faster rate than the broader economy over the past year,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “While a meaningful share of that hiring relates to infrastructure and large-scale manufacturing projects, several other subsegments, such as data centers and health care, enter the fourth quarter with momentum.
“Hiring would likely be faster if not for ongoing skills and labor shortages,” said Basu. “America desperately needs more people to enter the skilled trades as it seeks to rebuild its supply chains and improve its built environment. Despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to soften economic growth, a majority of contractors expect their sales and staffing to expand over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index. That suggests that the construction labor market is poised to tighten further during the months ahead despite ongoing Federal Reserve efforts to curb inflation, including by further slowing the pace of hiring.”
Visit abc.org/economics for the Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index, plus analysis of spending, employment, job openings and the Producer Price Index.
